Good news from the writer's strike
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- January
- 17
Now don’t get me wrong — I find the writer’s strike as upsetting as the next TV fan.
But I’ve realized lately that there are some up sides to the strike. Certain shows that might not have had a chance for a pickup in the past (Moonlight and Reaper, for example, with pretty low ratings at the start) got the chance to hit their stride and develop loyal followings and decent ratings (OK, Reaper didn’t achieve the latter, but Moonlight sure has, but given that it’s on The CW, it still has a chance).
Others, such as Journeyman, may not have been picked up (it really should have; it became an excellent show!) but at least got the chance to play out their stories and come to some sort of resolution. Remember last year when Smith got the ax after what, three or four episodes? This year, we might have gotten to learn more about the characters’ mysterious pasts.
Then, there’s Jericho. With so few scripted series on TV by February, the mini-season we’re getting just might hit enough viewers for us to get a Season 3. One might, in fact, argue that the writer’s strike is the best thing to happen to Jericho. Well, the best thing after the fans. And Skeet. And Ashley. And Lennie. And Mimi. Oh, you get the idea.
Today, I learned another reason to perhaps, just maybe, be grateful for the strike: Caprica. Back in September, I reported on talk that Caprica might just not be dead yet. Sci-Fi had pulled it off the development shelf, but with a strike imminent, execs were considering shooting a pilot for Caprica that, at the worst, could be turned into a DVD movie, a la Razor.
The rumor mill is in operation again, with Ain’t It Cool News reporting that “the new ‘Sci-Fi Preview’ edition of TV Guide reports (on page 28) that the desperately script-starved SciFi Channel may put into production the fully-scripted pilot for” Caprica.
‘I just got a call from NBC Universal,’ SciFi VP Mark Stern tells the magazine. ‘They want us to take another look at the project.’
The prequel series/movie/whatever is set about 50 years before the BSG miniseries and focuses on the Adama family and the human inventor of the Cylons. (Though, as AICN points out, is that really accurate? Don’t recent BSG events imply the Cylons have been around far longer? Perhaps the “inventor” was a Cylon himself and “invented” them to have a centurion slave class?)
Hmmm.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pm by Amy Vernon.
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Dear Amy;
You wrote "But I’ve realized lately that there are some up sides to the strike".
The up sides you wrote are inconsequential compared to all the unemployment of thousands of workers that suppoer the Hollywood Industry. There are many small businesses that will and are going Chapter 11, many home that will and are being lost, and many families now who have spent their live savings trying to survive this.
This as all because of Greedy Writers Union, who strike knowing full well the catastrophofic effect that will be caused to their neighbors and community.
You really need to look at the devastating loss of nearly a billion dollars and start to associate Hollywood's Greedy Writers Union (GWU) as the equals to the Enron Executives.
When you take the GWU, the Greedy Directors Union, and the Greedy Actors Union, and allow them all not to cross picket lines you have collusion, price fixing, and intimidation.
Congress should investigate and put an end to this practice. Now if they did, you would have an up side.
Jim
Jim
Hi Jim –
I appreciate your opinion and you do have some valid points regarding the affect on all the non-union employees normally employed by these shows.
And I don't pretend I have full knowledge of all that's at stake in the contract dispute. There are, as the saying goes, two sides to every story.
However, one of the issues I am familiar with is that the studios don't want to pay writers for their work used on the Internet (both replaying shows aired online and for extra content produced for online). That, to me, at least, doesn't seem right.
It seems a bit disingenuous to me for the studios to be claiming that they don't know if this newfangled online model will work, when it's obvious in all industries (newspapers included!) that everything's moving in that direction.
Again, I'm certainly no expert, but it would seem to me that an interim agreement between the studios and the writers that would compensate writers somewhat (not as much as they're looking for) for online viewing and extras and then revisit it in a year or two, once it's become more obvious how revenues will fall.
It certainly is not unreasonable for the studios to say that they don't know how much money the Internet will bring, and that right at the moment it's not really bringing in much to any of the "old media." But to pretend that it's unclear if it'll ever bring in revenue seems a bit … well, I'll be kind and say naive.
best,
amy
Hi Amy,
I for one do not believe the writers should be paid any royalties as they don't produce anything – businesses do.
Here is an example: do you believe the Car Engineers of America should receive a royalty from you every time you drive your car – not the car companies but the union? why not? After all with out the engineers there would be no cars – right? I mean it is only fair…..
Writers that receive salary, bonuses, retirement packages, vacation time, sick time, maternity leave, are compensated by their company for a service, the service should belong to the employer.
The problem is two fold, first the Gready Writers Union (GWU) along with the Greedy Directors Union with the Greedy Stars Union, are allowed to each honor each others strike, and coordinate their efforts. When business does this it is called collusion, price fixing and extortion.
A recent cost of this extortion was a loss of the Golden Globes which cost the California economy one hundred twenty million dollars!
The GWU is entertainment's version of ENRON and its management.
The second problem is that writers think they produce something. The don't. Look at the credits at the end of a movie and you will see Hundred of People that are responsible to produce that one movie.
Why shouldn't each group of people on the credits relieve a little kick back from the consumer each time a movie is rented? Are writers more deserving than anyone else? No. They should all get kick backs – each and every one of the people that are listed in the movie credits – or no one should get kick backs.
Writers tend to believe they are more important than ordinary people; they feel they are gifted, their work is special, they are the titans.. the genious the extraordinary. Right?
They are not – they are ordinary people just like you and me; they have worked on one skill – just like an accountant or a flute player- repetatively until they develop compidance.
Now for a group of people, so full of themselves, so ego driven, that they can coordinate and cause massive financial harm to others, their neighbors, their community, their employers is well evil. People are starting to put the GWU and ENRON in the same boat..This whol mess should be investigated by congress under the Rico Act.
Best,
Jim
Hi Jim –
Thanks for writing back. While I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree, I appreciate your point of view and appreciate the amount of thought you've put into it. And, as I said before, there are always two sides to every story. Or argument. Heck, sometimes three!
Thanks for visiting our blog and please stop back any time! We usually just write about what we think about our favorite shows and post the latest news on our favorite stars.
Thanks Amy,
Best to you. Appreciate your kind reply.
Jim